


Repose

by bisexualusagi



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene, Post-Kingdom Hearts III
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-19 21:10:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19364167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bisexualusagi/pseuds/bisexualusagi
Summary: Aqua regains what's hers.





	Repose

The walk was long, and rather boring; Through some hallways, down a spiral staircase, and through another hallway, this one lined with rooms that she wasn't sure whether to describe as cells or cages. They were empty, but Aqua couldn't help herself from glancing into them, and she felt a chill go down her spine with each one.

"You're sure it's down here?" She asked the young man in front of her. He was walking with his head down, as though avoiding looking at the cages.

"No, but it's likely," the man, Ienzo, answered without looking up. He was clearly uncomfortable, and Aqua made a note to herself that she must think of a way to thank him for bringing her here despite that. "Xehanort spent quite a bit of time down here, and Xemnas later banned anyone but himself from entering. Assuming he even kept your keyblade, it's likely to be in the Chamber." 

"Do you think he would have gotten rid of it?" She wasn't sure what she'd do if her blade was lost or destroyed. Even after all this time, Master's Defender never sat quite right in her hands, always felt a bit too heavy. 

"...I can't say," he responded, then stopped walking. Aqua only then noticed they'd reached the end of the hall. "But we're here, so you may as well check before worrying about that."

The door had no handle. Aqua stepped forward to look closer, then jumped back in surprise when it opens on its own. Within sat a throne, much like the one in Castle Oblivion, and beyond that…

She felt it before she saw it. A tug at her heart, a feeling like she's just remembered something long forgotten, and before she could think she was running across the room, falling to her knees at the other end. Her armor was there, broken and dilapidated and probably beyond repair, but none of that mattered, because Stormfall is there and it's in her hands and it's  _ hers _ .

Memories flowed through her in waves - the day she was bequeathed, the first time she summoned her blade, the first fight she won, the first spell she cast. The day she left a part of herself in her best friend's hands, and left herself to fall. Aqua doesn't realize she's crying until a tear falls on the hilt.

Ienzo came up behind her, holding out a hand. "Are you all right?" 

"Y-yes, I'm fine," she said, taking his hand and letting him help her up. Aqua wiped at her face, embarrassed at breaking down in front of a relative stranger. She's cried far too often, lately. "I was worried, I suppose. I thought, after so long without it, it might not feel like mine anymore.

She held out her hand and dispelled her keyblade before summoning it back, the most natural thing she's ever done. Any dust or grime that coated the blade was gone, leaving it shining like new, and Aqua struggled to keep the tears from starting again. "But it's the opposite," she continued, "I feel like I've regained a piece of myself that I didn't even realize was missing."  

Ienzo smiled. "I know that feeling well." He didn't elaborate, and Aqua decided it was best not to ask. Instead, she leaned down to her armor, willing it to dissipate at her touch. She could already tell it was too damaged to be repaired by its innate magic, the same way Terra's was after a decade in the badlands, held together by willpower alone. They'd both have to figure out what to do with them later. For now, she was ready to leave this dungeon. 

"May I ask you something?" she says to Ienzo once they reach the spiral stairs. 

"Of course." 

"The man you knew as Xehanort… do you think any part of Terra was still within him?" 

Ienzo paused on the steps to consider the question - or perhaps to catch his breath. "You would be better off asking Terra. I don't know him personally, nor did I know Xehanort before he came to be with us." 

"Terra… I can't bring myself to ask him," she said, frowning. "I can tell he isn't ready to talk about that time. But I guess it's been on my mind." 

They walked for a while without speaking. At the top of the stairs was a ledge that overlooked the facility, and Ienzo took a seat on it. He nodded his head at Aqua, and she takes that as a cue to sit beside him. After another moment, he spoke:

"I was very young when I first met Xehanort, and my life since then has been unconventional. My memories of his time as an apprentice are clouded at best, and he was a fairly different person as Xemnas." Ienzo drummed his fingers on his leg as he talked. Aqua wasn't sure she fully understood the idea of Nobodies, how Xemnas was different from Xehanort, but she knew the gist, and let him continue. 

"I remember being distrustful of him at first. Perhaps I sensed the darkness in him, or perhaps I was simply an antisocial child. But either way, I warmed up to him over the course of a year. He was… kind, perhaps, or at least not cruel, and he didn't talk down to me like the others often did." He sighed. "I trusted him, by the end, and I trusted Xemnas as well. But Xehanort's past was always vague, and his actions inscrutable. I don't know if his kindness was due to Terra's influence, or his memory loss, or an intentional act of manipulation. Perhaps it was some combination of the three. But make of that what you will."

None of that helped, but it didn't matter. It was something to put on her mind, something new to think about. She hoped she was wrong, hoped Terra hadn't been aware, didn't have to feel even more guilt for things over which he had no control. She knew, even for a short time, how it felt for control of yourself to slip through the cracks, how helpless lucidity felt as she watched the darkness control her. But Terra was himself now, and so was she, and as Aqua held her keyblade to her chest, she knew they would never give that up again.

She stood. "Thank you, Ienzo. For everything. I should get home before Terra and Ven start to worry." 

"Do you have a way to get home?" He asked, standing as well. 

She shook her head. "Don't worry, I've got everything I need."

In the courtyard, Aqua raised her keyblade to the sky, then flung it into the air, both surprised and not surprised at all that she remembered how. With her mind full and her heart fuller, she boarded her glider and took to the realm between, and for the first time in a decade, Aqua felt whole.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure why this ended up being my first Kingdom Hearts fic, but it did. I got to thinking how Aqua never got her own keyblade back, and how I felt her arc didn't really have a satisfying conclusion, one thing led to another and I wrote this in like an hour. As for Ienzo, I just think he's neat. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope to write more for KH in the future.


End file.
